


Apology and Alcohol

by Monstrosibee



Series: Championing A Cause [3]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, i want a RESOLUTION, look all the bad blood at the beginning of phase 2 was ops fault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 16:23:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19232749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monstrosibee/pseuds/Monstrosibee
Summary: Bumblebee broke the silence first, leaning forward and propping his cane up against the counter with a sigh and a creak. "You know, I thought this would be easier than with Prowl, but I should've realized by terrible luck would never let that happen."What happens when Rodimus and Bumblebee come together after chapter 12 of Champion to discuss past slights.





	Apology and Alcohol

**Author's Note:**

> this is really just for me, but i really wanted them to have a conversation when most of the issues they originally argued over were all caused by op. also i can gush about my au a little

Hound didn't say a word when they sat down at the more secluded corner of the counter, Rodimus simply tapping a knuckle on the steel to get his usual, Bumblebee asking softly for a plain glass of energon. He also didn't say anything when he set both in front of them with an expression vaguely like a petrorabbit caught in a set of headlights, then bustled off to the opposite end of the bar where Lug was settled alone on a stool, almost definitely to gossip. 

Not that there was anything to gossip about just yet; both the captain and his guest were silent for a moment, sipping from their glasses and trying to look anywhere but each other.

Bumblebee broke the silence first, leaning forward and propping his cane up against the counter with a sigh and a creak. "You know, I thought this would be easier than with Prowl, but I should've realized by terrible luck would never let that happen." 

Slumped momentarily as he was, there was a weariness in his frame, the way a mech looked and moved when they needed cables replaced. Despite the noise though, his plating shone a with a luster that Rodimus hadn't seen on anyone his age since before Simanzi, and the red lights at his abdomen glowed brightly in the dark of the bar.

"Can't believe you jumped in a space bridge and crossed the known galaxy just to yell at me again." Squinting into his glass, the speedster frowned, scraped something off the edge with a finger, then downed the rest of it in a single swallow, spoiler twitching slightly at the sudden influx of (shitty) fuel in his systems. "Or like, came back from the dead actually. I think the dead part is more impressive."

"I didn't technically come back from the dead." Bumblebee's engine kicked into a distressed whine, and Lug and Hound actually looked over from their end of the bar. The captain silently thanked whatever was out there that there was no one else present. "And I actually came here to do the opposite of yell at you."

"Uh...you wanted to...whisper at me?"

Surprisingly, that got a chuckle out of the yellow minibot, and he leaned back on his stool, kicking his feet against the wall of the counter. "I mean, I can do that if you want? The gossip squad over there seem like they're listening in, so it might not be a bad idea." Hound looked away when Bee glanced over at them, but Lug locked eyes and wouldn't look away, sipping slowly from her straw. 

He turned first, grimacing a little and staring down into his energon instead, and Rodimus saw over Bee's head that Lug was grinning ear to ear and shooting him a little thumbs up. The speedster silently snickered back, then made a shooing gesture, and she shrugged, popping a datapad out of her subspace to read. 

Placing his glass down and heaving a vent, the little yellow bot examined the scant scuff marks on his black knuckles. "I had...a lot of issues after the war ended. I was pissed at Orion for just fucking off into space without leaving us with any infrastructure, I was pissed at Metalhawk for just swanning back to Cybertron like he'd never done anything wrong, I was pissed at pretty much every Autobot for leaving me in a leadership position when the longest I'd ever held something like that was before the war when I was route head for my section of Iacon when I was working for that delivery outfit..." He paused, squinting down into the plain energon. "Mmm...I may need something stronger by the time we're done."

Rodimus thumbed over his shoulder at the rack of bottle overhead. "You could try a bottle of Hexcomb. Not too high an EBV and it's pretty sweet."

Bee looked halfway tempted, sucking at the plain green energon in his glass. "Maybe...engex makes my optics turn funny colors though."

The captain gave him a look. "What?"

"Long story. I'll get to it." He downed the last bit of energon and then drew his cane across his lap, running his fingers along the inlay of lustrous gold that made little honeycomb patterns on the black handle. "Anyway, I was really not in a good place when you and your crew left the first time and I took that out on you. Did you know that for a long time half the populace thought I was the one that had planned the Lost Light's initial explosion?"

Pausing, Rodimus spit his straw out, the top mangled with tooth marks. "What, really? I mean, maybe if I were Starscream or Shockwave..."

"Oh don't get me started on Shockwave." Bumblebee rolled his eyes, snapping out of his dreary malaise for the first time since he'd arrived. "I definitely think victims of Senate sponsored shadowplay should get a chance at rehabilitation, and he's a nice guy, but every time I go over to talk to Orion at the rehab center about anything, it's like walking into an old world romance novel. It makes my denta hurt."

"What, Optimus Prime Orion? And Shockwave?"

"Yeah, just like the time pre-war when Shockwave hadn't been snipped yet." He glanced at Rodimus, brow raised. "You're not that much younger than me...what by maybe a hot spot or two at most? You should remember how the tabloid feeds wouldn't leave the super-cop Orion Pax and his philanthropic senator sponsor Shockwave. Hubcap wouldn't shut up about it."

"I mean, I remember the tabloids, and I knew they were on good terms, but I didn't think it was like, like that." Interesting information, definitely something to file away. Not sure how useful it would be, but nonetheless... "I think you got sidetracked though."

Grimacing, Bee made a gesture at Hound and ordered one of the Hexcombs. The bartender's gaze darted between the drink, Bumblebee, and Rodimus as he cracked the bottle open with an opener and left it, still steaming with cold, next to an empty glass. Hound's optics remained on captain and visitor as he scuttled off back down to whisper excitedly at Lug. Bee took a careful sip, then nodded appreciatively. 

"Yeah, I did. Rodimus, I came to apologize to you." He held up a finger to preclude whatever answer was forthcoming, then took another mouthful from the Hexcomb. "You're not the only one I've had to do this with, and trust me when I say it's a lot easier saying sorry to you than it was getting up on that stage when I first came back online and apologizing to every Decepticon that had had a monitor chip in their head. Part of that had been Prowl's idea, but I didn't stop it, did I?"

The little bot's gaze got a bit misty as he stared at his reflection in the glass behind the liquor, and with a start, Rodimus noticed that gaze slowly shift from its normal cerulean to a neon green, then slowly onward to orange. "I said some nasty things to you during that time when we were all stumbling around on a suddenly alive Cybertron. I was angry cause you were one more person who was leaving me with a responsibility I didn't want. I was also still a little ticked off that Pax listened to you better on Earth because you had the Matrix than he did to me...which wasn't really fair of me, cause that was his fault, not yours." 

Finally, the captain got a word in. "Well, it's not like I was really that much better of a leader on Earth either. I got tricked by a guy named SWINDLE. It was IN THE NAME."

"I'm pretty sure we've all been tricked by Swindle at some point. It's like, a rite of passage." This swallow of Hexcomb was much bigger, and the little bot's engine buzzed in appreciation. "But seriously. I apologize for the way I acted. I was mad that Orion was leaving and no one else wanted to step up and take the reins except me. It was wrong of me."

"Look Bee, it's water under the bridge." Rodimus smacked Bee's shoulder almost hard enough to knock the other bot off his stool, motioning at Hound for another drink. "Everyone was upset and unhappy at that point. I said some nasty stuff too. But from the look of you, things are better at home? Tell me about that instead. I accept your apology only IF you update me on the latest dirt."

Those color changing optics glanced at him, as though Bee couldn't believe it, but then the yellow bot smiled. "Oh there's plenty of that. You guys haven't even looked at Cybertron since...what, the whole necrotitan fiasco?"

"We got a couple who phone home occasionally," shifting to a more relaxed position, Rodimus hooked a heel around the edge of his seat and pulled a knee to his chest, sucking at his newly refilled drink, "But I don't think they get anything concrete. Let's start with how you magically pulled an OP and got back up after Shockwave did you in."

"Oh that ones easy. I wasn't actually dead." Bee waved a hand as he took a generous mouthful of his drink. "Any time a friend of yours dies in a big weird event, check the nearest super minute black hole. There's like, a really good chance their spark ghost will be wandering around in a shadow dimension just adjacent to ours and that your resident super genius will be able to pull them through."

"Whaaaaat. That's sounds like the kind of slag that we'd get up to! How'd they find out?"

 "Starscream was the only one who could see me." Bee ordered another of the Hexcombs, tapping a beat against the lower side of the counter with his cane. "No one could figure out why, but he was, and then he got his stupid aft elected president, which lasted about two weeks until whatever let him see me gave him a major neural systems seizure in the middle of a council meeting, and had to step down unless he wanted to fry his whole motor system from stress. Wheeljack saw me in his optical recordings - did you know the optics don't record hallucinations - and somehow GUESSED what happened and...well, I don't know how physics and engineering works, I just know he used some kind lightning rod to pull me back into a frame he'd built. Shadow dimension left me with all kinds of weird tics, though."

Rodimus tapped his chin in thought. "I knew Starscream had been president at some point, but I didn't realize it was so short. Metalhawk ended up in that spot, didn't he?"

"Yeah, it was pretty unanimous. He's got Autobot and Decepticon advisers though, so that he doesn't piss off two thirds of the populace. Never thought Prowl would make a good representative for anything, but that's what he and Hook are doing...I still feel like shit for ever letting Devestator happen, but it's weird how good the Constructicons were for him." Bee drained the last of the engex, then waved at Hound. 

Suddenly intrigued - Rodimus wouldn't call himself a gossip per say, but he liked to be in the know just as much as the next guy - the red mech leaned in. "I'd heard from Chromedome that Prowl was hanging out with the C-Cons but he actually is part of Devestator? How does that kind of thing happen?"

Bee grimaced. "Bombshell had been shadowplaying him for about two weeks before I realized something was up. Frame overhaul had already been done, but I was at least able to send some guys out to track down Bombshell and stop him from doing...whatever he had planned on doing with Devestator." Casting a slightly crooked look at Rodimus, he grinned. "After Prowl woke up in the hospital though, all five of the constructicons sort of...huddled together over his sickbed and asked if he'd ever actually consider combining."

"What he say?"

"Oh,  Devestator is great for difficult rebuilding projects." Bee spun his chair to fully face the captain, an arm thrown over the seatrest behind him and his right leg - which had a silverly brace clasped tight around one knee - resting on Rodimus' knee. "They don't combine super often, especially since Prowl is always up to his aft in paperwork, but Devestator can throw the foundation for a building up in an afternoon."

"Wish we had a combiner." Rodimus' voice was drawling as the engex nipped at his senses, but he could still see easily through the slight fog. "Do you know how much easier my life would be if I could just point at a problem and set a giant on it?"

"They need a special doctor...I think it's new medicine?" Suddenly, Bee leaned forward, throwing them a both a little off balance as his leg slipped. "I got a boyfriend! I didn't tell you! His name is Rattrap. He works with Starscream and mostly does paperwork." He leaned back again, suddenly pensive. "He's a little rough around the edges but he's really nice. We get lunch in the council building whenever our lunchbreaks overlap and my deliveries have me in there."

Shooting to his feet, Rodimus slammed a hand on the counter. "WHAT! We need to celebrate!!" The tipsy captain waved again, which wasn't really necessary as his voice had escalated to shouting. "Hound! Bee's dating someone! We need some shots of Spark Singer right now!"

Bee dropped off the stool and to his feet, then stumbled to his side a bit. "Yeah! Roddy, what was that EBV on the Hexcomb again? I'm feeling a little...light headed."

The captain couldn't quite remember, but he shoved the tiny glass of sparkling engex into the minibot's hand. "Don't know! I'm not good with numbers! Bottoms up!" They both took the shot at the same time.

Bumblebee would come to regret that decision about a half a day later, sitting in Prowl's office and listening with both the adviser and Windblade to the briefing of the latest catastrophe, head pounding and optics squinted against the dim fluorescent lighting.

Rodimus would only regret it the next day, when he woke up in his quarters in much the same condition.


End file.
